Parliamentary figures link 99.1% of recorded firearm murders to unlicensed firearms

A written parliamentary reply attributed to Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia in July 2026 has put the distinction between legal and illegal firearms at the centre of South Africa’s gun-control debate. The reply recorded 41,297 murders involving unlicensed firearms during the four financial years from 2022/23 to 2025/26, compared with 393 murders involving firearms legally owned by licensed individuals.

On those figures, approximately 99.1% of the firearm-related murders recorded in the reply involved unlicensed firearms, while about 0.9% involved firearms licensed to the owner. The figures do not suggest that legally held firearms pose no risk, but they indicate that the recorded firearm-murder burden is overwhelmingly associated with weapons outside the licensing system.

Firearms remain a major part of South Africa’s violent-crime problem. The supplied reporting states that SAPS identifies firearms as the weapon most frequently used in murder. It also reports that firearms were involved in approximately 40% of murders during one recent quarter, with 2,559 people killed with firearms between January and March 2025. Averaged across that quarter, the figure equates to roughly 28 firearm-related murders a day.

Cachalia reportedly said in February 2026 that firearms remained the single largest weapon driving murder, robbery and organised crime in South Africa. Gun Free South Africa, established in 1995, advocates reducing gun violence through public-policy advocacy, education, awareness and community mobilisation. The seriousness of the problem is therefore not in dispute; the disagreement concerns which interventions are most likely to reduce it.

The proposed legislative change

The figures raise questions about the proposed Firearms Control Amendment Bill, particularly provisions that would remove self-defence as a recognised reason for obtaining a firearm licence. The supplied report says the proposal would also remove protection of others and protection of property as recognised grounds. Hunting and sporting licences would remain part of the framework described in the report, meaning the proposal would not eliminate every form of private firearm ownership.

For licensed owners who currently possess firearms for protection, removing self-defence as a recognised basis would nevertheless represent a significant change. The argument advanced in the report is that legislation aimed primarily at compliant owners may not directly address the unlicensed firearms associated with the overwhelming majority of the recorded murders.

The report points instead to measures targeting the illegal supply: recovering stolen and lost firearms, preventing firearms from entering the country unlawfully, disrupting criminal networks and gangs, addressing corruption, and improving the police’s ability to investigate and prosecute violent crime. It also notes that some firearms used illegally may originate from legal sources through theft, loss or diversion, making secure storage and responsible ownership important parts of prevention.

A 2023 legal analysis cited in the report questioned whether removing self-defence as a licensing ground would necessarily improve public safety, given that police cannot guarantee immediate protection in every violent incident. The report does not argue that everyone should own a firearm or that ownership should be unregulated. It argues for a distinction between compliant owners and the criminal networks using unlicensed firearms, with the immediate enforcement focus placed on the latter.